DETROIT — Former Michigan congressman Bob Davis, who represented northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula for seven terms in Congress, has died. He was 77.

Mark Ruge, who served as chief of staff for Davis, says the former congressman died Friday at a hospice in Arlington, Va. Ruge says Davis had suffered kidney and heart failure.

Davis' congressional district was one of the largest in the nation.

Davis served as the top Republican on the committee that oversaw federal Great Lakes policy and championed the process that eventually led to the establishment of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary near Alpena.

In his last act in Congress, Davis helped create the Keweenaw National Historical Park, a part of the National Park Service.

Davis also served two terms in the Michigan House and two terms in the state Senate.

Government is not a mechanism to Prosperity [b]Our constitutional ignorance -- perhaps contempt, coupled with the fact that we've become a nation of wimps, sissies and supplicants -- has made us easy prey for Washington's tyrannical forces[/b]